Beer 49: Stone Brewing’s Vertical Epic Ale or Hiding in Plain Sight

Lately I’ve been intrigued by the work of two artists who hide in plain sight.  Their art is a cross between painting and photography and it is utterly fascinating.  Examples of work by Liu Bolin:

(I believe all these photos are courtesy of this artist.)

The other artist is Cecilia Paredes.  She lives and works in Philadelphia!  How have I never seen her work before last week?  

(photos courtesy of mymodernmet.com)

I’ve also been haunted by the song Someone I Used to Know by Gotye.  Check out the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UVNT4wvIGY&feature=youtu.be 

It’s very much in the same vein as the work of Liu Bolin and Cecilia Paredes.  I absolute cannot stop watching this video.


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Tonight I opted to just drink a beer at dinner and not worry about the blog so for tonight’s review I’m tapping into a review I had on reserve from this week’s trip to State College.  At some point since my college graduation, The Deli decided to become a really awesome beer bar and I continue to be astounded at its selection every time I visit.


Lunch on Thursday was no different as I tried Stone Brewing’s Vertical Epic Ale.  I’ll admit that I think of the offerings from Stone as more of beers for Gary so I usually don’t pay much attention to them.  For some reason this one spoke to me.  It poured a medium to dark brown and I swear it had a slight greenish tint.  It had bold flavor -- cinnamon, hops and toastiness up front with a bitter hop finish matched perfectly with green chili pepper.  This beer is bold with lots of flavor.  Combine that with a 9.4% ABV, it’s not for the faint of heart.  

Beyond fantastic taste, this beer has an interesting background.  It’s part of Stone’s vertical series that started on February 2, 2002.  These bottle-conditioned ales are specifically designed to be aged until sometime after December 12, 2012.  (Sorry I drank this one early!)  They are designed for a vertical tasting.  Each beer in the series is released one year, one month and one day from the previous year’s edition.  My beer was released on November 11, 2011 and the next and final one is due out December 12, 2012.  I will definitely be on the lookout for opportunities to participate in one of these vertical tastings.  


I kid you not that I woke up this morning dreaming about this beer.  It would be a perfect brunch beer.